#Stations of the Cross

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Above all else, crucifixion was a spectacle: The Roman Empire’s way of making a show of its brutality in order to terrorize dominated peoples into submission.

If you dared dissent, you knew what end awaited you: You would be stripped of your autonomy, stripped of your dignity, and finally literally stripped bare before a crowd, your naked, wounded flesh a warning to others to comply, or die.

Today, transgender and intersex persons are likewise made into a spectacle.

Our bodies and private medical histories are put on display for others to gawk at, pity, or judge. New laws attempt to strip us of our God-given free will, denying us the autonomy to respond to God’s invitation to participate in the ongoing creative act that is embodied life.

In school and at work, at home and in church, we face every manner of violence. And when these evils wound us to the point of suicide, or when we are murdered, our deaths are lifted up as a warning: “See what happens when you refuse to comply?”

But through the cross, Jesus transformed shame and death into new life. Though he was the one who was stripped, his execution exposed both the evil of Empire, and its ultimate fallibility.

When we dare to be who God made us to be, society’s spotlight may make us feel like one raw wound, exposed and vulnerable. We may even be subjected to social death.

But we refuse to be ashamed any longer for being the beautiful embodied spirits, inspirited bodies that God calls beloved.

Even when others try to strip us of dignity, status, or autonomy, Christ brings us into joyous, abundant life. The cross is not the end of the story.

From "A Queer Easter Vigil: resurrection after religious trauma" on the Blessed Are the Binary Breakers podcast

[a-queer-seminarian]

A Queer Easter Vigil: resurrection after religious trauma

In the latest episode of Blessed Are the Binary Breakers (yes, it's been a while!!), I interweave my own story of deep trauma and hope of healing with Jesus' journey to the cross and tomb. After spiritual harm, how do we rise to new spiritual life?

[artandthebible]

Christ Carrying the Cross

Artist: Sebastiano del Piombo (Italian, 1485-1547)

Date: 1515–1517

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Description

Here, Simon of Cyrene assists Jesus, emphasizing the heavy weight of the cross on his shoulders. A Roman soldier stands behind, his jeering face just visible in the darkness. In the background, the tightly packed composition opens up onto a crowd assembling at the foot of the hill of Golgotha, with two crosses barely visible. The luminous landscape is a hallmark of the artist's Venetian training. The painting's dramatic visual impact is a result of the powerful diagonals of the cross; the dynamic, almost sculptural quality of Christ's clothing; and the pathos of his expression.

The Art Institute's version is an autograph replica of a painting—now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid—made for Jerónimo Vich y Valterra, the Spanish ambassador to Rome. Other versions survive in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg; the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, Madrid; and the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest.

[pagan-stitches]

Stations of the Cross from Krickerhau

The Stations of the Cross from Krickerhau are not only unique in their unusual number of paintings. They are particularly remarkable because they bear visible traces of the explosion of war violence. On Easter Monday, March 26, 1945, when the front was approaching Handlová, an air bomb exploded during a church service. The paintings that were located near the explosion are therefore damaged in many places by the pressure wave and perforated by shrapnel.

[angeltreasure]

While Jesus was carrying His cross, He probably at some point along the way, raised His eyes to Heaven and prayed to our Heavenly Father, “Father, I offer this death I am about to suffer for My beloved child, [insert your name here].”

[jt1674]

[many-sparrows]

> walk out of the apartment to go to Stations of the Cross

> rain clouds have rolled in

[galarian-weezing-on-prep]

Stations in the Street by Scott Erickson is a modern contemplative art installation based on the traditional Stations of the Cross and Via Dolorosa.

Erickson is a Protestant working to bring art back into post-Reformation churches who’ve eschewed it.

You can follow along with each station at the link, with a Scripture passage, questions to ask yourself, and a meditation.

I Jesus is Tempted | II Jesus is Betrayed | III Jesus is Condemned | IV Jesus is Mocked | V Jesus is Given His Cross | VI Jesus Falls | VII Simon Carries Jesus’ Cross | VIII Jesus is Stripped | IX Jesus is Nailed to the Cross | X Jesus Dies | XI Jesus is Buried | XII Jesus Rises

[stone-cold-groove]

St. Veronica.

[thevirginofthelillies]

William Adolphe-Bouguereau, Christ Meeting His Mother on the Way to Calvary, 1888

[mariefollowerofjesuschrist]

Tonight, I will go to church and perform the Stations of the Cross. It is a beautiful way to retrace the steps of Jesus as He went to the cross and died for us. He suffered so much and He did it because He loves us. I love You, Jesus!

[pink-fiat003]

Just gone to a Stations of the Cross for the first time tonight - it was so amazing! I loved it so much because I’m a really big fan of the sorrowful mysteries and sorrowful imagery in general, so this was really great. Will definitely try to go again next week.

[artandthebible]

Christ Falls on His Way to Calvary

Artist: Workshop of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (Italian, 1483-1520)

Date: 1515-1516

Medium: Oil on panel transferred to canvas

Collection: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

According to the Bible, Jesus fell three times on the way to the cross, although this detail is not explicitly stated in the biblical text but is part of the traditional "Stations of the Cross"

[hiawathab]

Stations of the Cross, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Veronica’s Veil

At the Shrine of the Holy Face in Manoppello, Italy, visitors see a transparent cloth encased between two glass panes within an ornate silver frame above the sanctuary’s altar.

Once light is shined on the cloth of byssus fiber, the image of a bearded man, eyes open, and mouth seemingly taking a breath is revealed.

Devotees of Manoppello veil claim that it is the so-called “Veronica’s Veil.”

It was secretly moved to the little hilltop town in Abruzzo on orders from Pope Clement VII to protect it following the Sack of Rome in 1527.

Another image of Christ’s face, known as “Veronica’s Veil,” is displayed at St. Peter’s Basilica on the 5th Sunday of Lent each year to bless pilgrims as they approach Holy Week.

Although traditional Stations of Cross include “Veronica wipes face of Jesus,” none of the Gospels recount a woman wiping Jesus’ face as he carries his cross to Calvary.

A pious legend says Veronica later went to Rome to leave the relic with St. Clement, one of early popes.

German journalist Paul Badde is convinced that veil displayed by Vatican for the past 400 years is a copy and that the true veil is in Manoppello.

“Every year on Passion Sunday, they show a hoax, I would say,” Badde told Catholic News Service January 14.

Capuchin friars at Manoppello have been custodians of a veil since 1630.

For centuries, few people outside small town knew of cloth and its image of Jesus. However, Capuchin priest, Father Domenico di Cese, made it his life’s work to spread devotion to Holy Face of Manoppello.

When he first saw veil as a young priest in 1930s, he knelt in shock. The face on the ancient linen looked like the same unidentified man who had rescued him from rubble of a church after a major earthquake in 1915 when he was a child.

Father Cese died in 1978 and it wasn’t until 1999 that veil really caught world’s attention.

That was when Jesuit Father Heinrich Pfeiffer, an art historian at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, announced at press conference that cloth was true “Veil of Veronica.”

He stated that after conducting research, he discovered that the image on the veil could be perfectly superimposed on face of the Shroud of Turin, the relic many believe is Jesus’ burial shroud.

Some devotees maintain that the image’s connection to “Veronica” is not related to a woman who tried to soothe Jesus but is actually form of phrase “vera icona” (true icon).

Capuchin Father Paolo Palombarini, parochial vicar of the shrine, said:

“Both pupils are open. But one can see that the right pupil is more closed than one on the left because this is first instance of the Resurrection and it happened just at it does when we wake up in the morning.”

Vatican does not formally recognize authenticity of relics like Veil of Manoppello or Shroud of Turin.

However, public veneration of such relics by popes often draw attention of faithful.

Such was the case when Pope Benedict XVI became first pope to visit Manoppello shrine in 2006 and venerate the image, Badde said.

He told CNS that Pope Benedict had read his book on the veil and “decided to go there against enormous resistance in Vatican.”

Still, during what Pope Benedict himself described as a “private pilgrimage,” he made no pronouncement about the image.

Addressing priests, religious and pilgrims who packed the shrine, he said those who seek the true face of Christ can find it in their brothers and sisters, “especially poorest and those most in need.”

“If we persevere in our quest for the face of the Lord,” Pope Benedict said, “at the end of our earthly pilgrimage, he, Jesus, will be our eternal joy, our reward and glory forever.”

Badde said, “He was the first pope after more than 400 years to get on his knees in front of this image, that’s what he did. That’s what will remain of his pontificate.”

Pope Benedict’s visit increased attention to the image, which continues to draw more pilgrims each year.

[conformi]

Nathaniel Currier, Jesus bearing his cross, 1848 VS Sebald Beham, Hercules carrying the columns of Gades | The Labours of Hercules, 1545